By extension the word became (as recently as the 18th century) synonymous with "an individual commercial enterprise" and has also sometimes taken on the meaning of "the nexus of commercial activities" or of "the representatives of commercial activity".

Specifically, business can refer, collectively, to individual economic entities. In some legal jurisdictions, such entities are regulated by law to conduct operations on behalf of entrepreneurs. A manufacturing business is commonly referred to as an industry: for example: the "entertainment industry", or the "dairy industry", or the "fishing industry".